Travel

On Tuesday, we visited the WWII Valor of the Pacific National Monument at Pearl Harbor. We started at the USS Missouri, which actually marked the end of the war. The surrender documents were signed on the deck of this battleship. Interestingly, this ship was mostly being built during the war. It was the last battleship ever built by the US; after, we moved into the age of aircraft carriers.

The Missouri saw duty in WWII, Korea, and Desert Storm before being decommissioned and brought to Pearl Harbor to create a full circle tour of the war.

Next, we visited the Arizona Memorial, which marks the start of the war. The memorial is well-designed and a fitting tribute.

Finally, we ended our day on the Bowfin, a submarine that saw significant use and really represented the middle of the war. This was our favorite of the tours. The sub is compact, and it is intriguing to see how much they fit in such small quarters. Most interesting fact: when launching a torpedo, the inner hatch is sealed. Then, the chamber is flooded with water to equalize pressure before ultimately launching the torpedo. Sensible and something I had never thought of before.

We spent the whole day exploring the memorial. Thank you to those who fought and sacrificed for our nation.

Time to catch up. We are having a good and busy time, so I have been slacking on posting. Monday, while exploring the North Shore, we couldn't resist snorkeling in Shark's Cove. The water was nice and deep, which made it a tiny bit harder to see but much easier to navigate reefs. We really enjoyed our time there.

Just to the north is Old Quarry, and we wish we had spent more time there. We found it when we walked over to shower and change. Old Quarry is a protected tide pool area. The tide was up, so not a lot to see without some wading, and we could have used our snorkel masks. Note for next time!

Enjoy the pics. See if you can spot the fish and the sea cucumber in the last pic.

First of all, it is funny to us to think of Hawaii's North Shore, as we love our jaunts to the North Shore of Lake Superior. In regards to food, both places are fabulous.

For lunch, we visited Furi's shrimp "truck" (now a small building). They grow the shrimp in ponds behind the truck. We had garlic shrimp and spicy shrimp. Yum!

We snorkeled in the afternoon, then we headed to Hale'iwa to wander. Shave ice (like snocones, but tropical flavors) hit the post-snorkel spot. We went to Aoki's, which has great reviews and a much shorter line than Matsumotos. I had passion fruit, green tea, and li hing mui (a sweet/salty plum) flavors with some condensed milk added for good measure. Matt got the special. Both were super yummy.

We headed back to Waikiki for dinner at an authentic Hawaiian dive called Onos (means "delicious"). Our favorite dish was laulau, which is pulled pork wrapped in taro leaves. It was moist and succulent, and the taro leaves are like less bitter collard greens.

Oh, and how can I forget breakfast? We picked up masaladas from Leonard's, a famous Waikiki bakery. They are puffy fried pastries that can be filled. We had some filled (coconut, guava) and some not (dusted in cinnamon or lihi powder). All were good, but we prefer the non-filled options.

Today, we went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, a marine preserve here on Oahu. As you can see, it was well worth the price of admission ($7.50 each). We brought our own gear (rented from Snorkel Bob's) and launched in.

I have only been once before, so it did take a little practice. We went out 4 separate times. It got easier to snorkel as the tide came in, but that also made the water a bit rougher and murkier. At low tide, the reefs were right in our face!

We saw lots of beautiful fish, coral, and even a green sea turtle. The latter was lucky spot by Matt. We didn't want to bother it, so we just hung out as it lazily swam by us.

Quite an excellent morning! I also learned that I will bring swim shorts next time I am in Hawaii, as my only burns are little crescents at the top of my legs where my swimsuit shifted. Still worth it for the sights.

The afternoon saw some hiking, and we're headed to Waikiki beach now to see some hula and eat dinner.

We are in Hawaii. It is almost like a foreign country here. Today, we drove around to get our bearings. Early bedtime tonight, for sure, as we are three hours before Portland and five before Minnesota. More soon.

Nevada: on the way back from the college trip to Arizona
New Hampshire: likely during a trip to New England with friends as a young teen, but I mostly remember The Fun Spot, an awesome arcade I visited when I was in Maine.
New York: en route to Maine, I stopped by upstate New York
North Carolina: last year, we visited Matt's aunt in Myrtle Beach. Looks like I never posted pics of that either. We took a day trip up to Wilmington, NC, which was one of our favorite parts of the trip.
North Dakota: on my move to Michigan from Seattle. Here's the album of the process
Ohio: Toledo Zoo!
Oklahoma: many, many visits to family in OKC.
Oregon: lots of trips, including going to college (Pacific University!) and much visiting of the coast
Pennsylvania: visiting Pittsburgh for grad school interviews and hanging out with a friend
Rhode Island: visited the capital on a New England trip with friends
South Carolina: visiting Matt's aunt in Myrtle Beach
South Dakota: Mount Rushmore? I've been there lots. It's a good destination when you live in Nebraska.
Tennessee: same trip as Kentucky
Texas: my first trip was driving down to Houston to take a trip to Guatemala
Utah: Arches National Park on the way back from Arizona
Vermont: On that New England trip with friends in my teens
Virginia: visiting DC for my cousin's baptism in 1999
Washington: I lived there! Lovely state.
West Virginia: en route to or back from DC a couple of times. All I ever did was go hiking, and it is great for that.
Wisconsin: my parents grew up in Wisconsin, so lots of trips to visit family
Wyoming: visiting April in Casper! Oh, wait, I did go to Devil's Tower and Yellowstone as a kid. But it's not the same as a true Wyoming visit.

My parents say I've been to Arkansas, but I really don't remember. I did drive through Indiana and have dinner there, but we went at night in November (on Thanksgiving!), so I don't count that trip.

A brief list of how I've been to all these states (just the first times):

Arizona: college cross-cultural class on the Navajo Nation
California: senior year spring break trip to visit my brother
Colorado: trip to Estes Park with the family when I was 10 or 11
Florida: we went to Disney World when I was in 3rd grade. We drove there (from Nebraska), and I kept a whole journal of our educational trip for my teacher. It was excellent.
Georgia: on the way back from Disney World
Hawaii: technically, we're flying there on Friday. I'll include it anyway. Look forward to lots of posts from there now that I can post from my phone.
Idaho: during the big move to Seattle from Nebraska
Kansas: on the way to our family on Oklahoma when we lived in Nebraska. I don't like Kansas. It just makes the trip longer.
Kentucky: whirlwind weekend trip while in grad school
Maine: moved there to work at the amazing FBES.
Maryland: not sure when my first time was. Did a spring break trip to DC a few years ago that involved Maryland, but it appears that I failed to post pictures. d'oh.
Massachusetts: I went on a family vacation with a friend's family when I was 13. We visited lots of nerdy historical sites, because that's how we rolled.
Michigan: moved there for grad school! Here's a more recent visit that encapsulates how much I live Michigan.
Minnesota: my first visit was at age 6 to visit my mom's friends; my dad went to grad school in Minnesota. I remember very little other than wearing an orange tie-dye shirt and having orange fireworks painted on my cheek.
Missouri: visited St. Louis and the arch on the way to Disney World (see Florida)
Montana: during our move to Seattle from Nebraska and many times since to visit my uncle in Missoula
Nebraska: born there!

We spent the night in Atkinson at the "state" campgrounds that are run by the city. Not a ton of amenities, but there was clean water, a pit toilet, and a nice patch to pitch our tent. Better yet, it only cost us $7. The next day, we ventured on to South Dakota . . .

Visiting Omaha was a great mix for me. I lived there for almost a decade in my childhood, and it was fun to revisit and see some old spots. Two of my college friends live there, so I also got to catch up with them!

These are buddies from college . . . and two of my students from TAing general biology! I was an undergrad TA, which means I helped the professor during lab and graded lab assignments. I promise my friendship with them never got in the way of grading. Plus, it was great to have younger friends at school because then I had somewhere to sleep when I visited.

They took us to a fabulous brewery in the Old Market. Great food and good beer for Matt.

I think these are a stout and an IPA . . .

After, we went to the giant slides. The slides were not frictionless, unfortunately. They were also faster when I was a kid.

Other highlights include Con Agra park (company that makes Healthy Choice and other freezer foods) and the Missouri riverfront, but the pictures are of little interest to one who hasn't been there. We also drove by my old house, which was strange. I couldn't even bring myself to take pictures. The people who moved in changed our unique little house into a much more cookie-cutter place. I will note that the house and street are much smaller than I remember them being. Interesting how that works.

I'm sad we couldn't have a longer visit to Omaha. We only spent 3 or 4 hours there. Perhaps next time!

When I was born, I lived in a small country parsonage next to a rural church in western Iowa. A graveyard was our backyard. I only lived there until I was 3, so I don't have a lot of strong memories other than visiting while we lived in Omaha.

On our trip out west, we realized that our route would take us right past this little church. I pulled off the highway and took a trip down memory lane.

The view from the backyard:

A side view of our little parsonage and the adorable red truck the current minister drives:

I burst into tears when I saw this gravestone. Irene and her sisters fixed my baby blanket, and she was a lovely woman.

My mom likes to recount the story of my brother and Sarah. One day, my mom couldn't find my brother. She finally discovered him way back in a corner of the cemetery. When she asked what he was doing, he said he had been talking with Sarah. "Sarah who?" my mom asked. We lived quite a distance from our neighbors, and any Sarahs we knew were not old enough to be there without their parents and a car. He kept insisting there was a Sarah. My mom parted the brambles and brush and saw this:

It's now kept up much better, and you can clearly see Sarah.

I'm glad that I was able to visit a small portion of my childhood. More tomorrow on our afternoon in Omaha.